Winch Advisory Services LLC Decreases Position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Winch Advisory Services LLC decreased its stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 15.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,805 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after selling 506 shares during the quarter. Winch Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $107,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Matrix Trust Co purchased a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan in the 3rd quarter worth about $25,000. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. bought a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the second quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Godsey & Gibb Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 150.4% in the third quarter. Godsey & Gibb Inc. now owns 576 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 346 shares during the period. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 487.8% during the 4th quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 723 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 600 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Continuum Advisory LLC boosted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 46.8% during the 3rd quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 740 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 236 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently commented on FCX shares. Scotiabank decreased their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $48.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 6th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $60.00 to $58.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Sanford C. Bernstein cut Freeport-McMoRan from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $51.00 to $46.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $52.96.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Up 1.4 %

NYSE:FCX opened at $40.04 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a current ratio of 2.33. The stock has a market capitalization of $57.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.23, a P/E/G ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 1.87. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $41.54 and its 200-day simple moving average is $44.43. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $36.26 and a fifty-two week high of $55.24.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The natural resource company reported $0.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by $0.01. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.40% and a net margin of 7.81%. The business had revenue of $6.79 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.45 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.39 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 16.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be issued a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.50%. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio is currently 21.90%.

Freeport-McMoRan Profile

Freeport-McMoRan Inc engages in the mining of mineral properties in North America, South America, and Indonesia. It primarily explores for copper, gold, molybdenum, silver, and other metals. The company's assets include the Grasberg minerals district in Indonesia; Morenci, Bagdad, Safford, Sierrita, and Miami in Arizona; Chino and Tyrone in New Mexico; and Henderson and Climax in Colorado, North America, as well as Cerro Verde in Peru and El Abra in Chile.